When you read about the TN70 in the umpc and netbook community you’re likely to hear references to the T91 and the Sony Vaio P along with words like ‘ugly’ and ‘cheap.’ You probably won’t hear much mention of mobility but if you’re thinking about mobility, umpcs and tablet PCs I encourage you to pause for a moment and take a closer look because this bargain basement device (that I’m calling a UMPC) has surprised me by turning out to be well designed and very, very usable. If you think back to the Wibrain B1/i1 you’ll remember a similar story. It certainly didn’t look attractive and the reason was that Wibrain designed something to be usable rather than marketable. The same is true of the TN70. It’s a very usable and very good value device.
The TN70N has been supplied for review by Mobilx. Their information and ordering page is available here.
Our TN70N product page which includes links, images and videos.
Before I get my first impressions down though I have to do a comparison to Kohjinsha SA1. When I bought it 2.5 years ago it cost me over 1000 Euro, ran on the Geode LX500 CPU and served me well until I ran out of patience with the slow processor. The TN70M costs less than half and brings a swivel touchscreen, way over double the processing power, hd video decoding, a fingerprint reader, rotation sensor, optical mouse, web cam, expresscard/34 slot and a much much better keyboard. It even has the same, great battery life. If you’re buying pre-tax, you’ll pay just 337 Euros today. That’s without an operating system but if Windows 7 release candidate runs, (i’ll be testing that today) then why bother with the OS. 405 euro is the price including tax. Seriously, if you’re thinking about a cheap netbook for mobile duties, stop! This Clevo is more mobile, more flexible, more usable than any netbook in almost all mobile scenarios except long-term desktop use.
Let’s put a few things in perspective though. It only has an 800×480 resolution screen so you’ll be experiencing dialog box problems. You’ll also hit problems with some software installs until you switch to a higher, non-native resolution. It’s also pretty ugly. A large screen frame houses useable controls but makes it look like a toy, especially in the white coloring.
In our 1hr live evaluation last night (video here) we discovered the following:
- The keyboard is good. Better than the Kohinsha SC3. Not as good as most netbook. It only has 1 shift key.
- The fingerprint reader works and the software captures password too.
- The mouse pointer on the frame is a very good optical type which gives you great control in two-handed or tablet mode.
- Has strong Wifi reception. (b/g modes)
- Appears to have about 5hrs battery life (although the battery indicator doesn’t show times)
- Has a soft touchscreen with a good level of palm rejection. The screen is matt but has a typical milky appearance in sunlight.
- Includes a rotation sensor (although the drive software appears to be broken on this model)
- Is as fast as any 1.3Ghz Menlow device for browsing. Sub 10-second average page load times.
- Includes a hard drive with a max throughput of 28MB/s
- Was silent for the whole 1hr testing session
- Has a removable back allowing RAM, HDD and PCI-express mini slot.
- Speakers are of acceptable quality.
- Microphone level seems low (tested with Skype)
Initial CrystalMark test result:
The graphics driver is extremely old and causes crashes on flash full-screen so i’ll leave you with some images and run down to the studio to install Windows 7. Wish me luck!
June 25th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Clevo TN70M Hands-on Suprises. Great value multi-scenario mobile computing – if you can handle an 800×480 screen. http://cli.gs/7Ba6J
June 25th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Would you say that with a 1024×600 display, it would be a killer device?
Chippy Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Put it this way, i’ve already asked Mobilx if they can get the TN71M (1024×600) and how much it would be. I think it would make a damn good mobile device and would sell well to highly mobile users if it only cost 50 Euro more.
ZankChank Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Unfortunately when I priced the 1024×600 model on some foreign retailer site about three weeks ago it doubled the price of it. Hopefully Moblix can get a good deal.
chippy Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Mobilx told me they wont carry the TN71. I guess pricing is an issue with it. Clevo trying to dump the 800×480 models perhaps?
June 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
> # Microphone level seems low (tested with Skype)
Have you made sure that the “+20dB” box was checked in the sound properties? It’s not always easy to find, depending on the sound software installed…
Chippy Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I had a quick scan for it, yes. It could be in the Realtec software which I havent checked though. Thanks
Steve
chippy Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I found the boost. It was under playback settings rather than record!
Just completed a 12 minute skype video call with JKK. Apparently the cam was good. Audio was perfect. Neither of us used headsets and neither of us heard any echo. Top marks for casual sykpe video capability.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I installed the ’1097′ GMA 500 drivers and it solved the full screen flash problem. Full screen HQ videos work for the most part. Some are clearly higher bitrate and dont work too well.
Still having problems with the G-Sensor software.
anon Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Is it likely to be a fault with your unit or is it wide spread? Do you know of any other Clevo owners?
June 29th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Disappointed with it and the article.
The res. is rubbish, the size is rubbish and the price is rubbish.
For that size screen you want 1024×600 min. Make the icons bigger if you want to improve usability – don’t lower the res.
The size is big compared to other 7″ swivel units inc. Viliv S7, Kohjinsha SK3 etc. They also have higher res. In fact size wise it is the same almost as a number of 8.9″ swivel units.
The price is also more than that of Gigabyte’s M912M (also sold by Mobilx) That unit has 8.9″ 1024×600 screen, has a larger hard drive, higher spec processor and yet only 1cm length and width wise. The G912m also has most of the extras this unit has. And it has an OS included in the price!
As an article it is fine to compare with something 2.5 years ago, but it is also important to compare with what is out now. It is older technology and I would expect it therefore to be cheaper than something that trumps it in all areas (except possibly battery) .
Personally I’m looking at the Kohjinsha SX4 with a real runtime of 5 hours (with extended battery) but again is a whole other level and therefore a bit more expensive.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Hi Chippy,
I read both your review and the original Lazion review of SPARQ M7 (apparently = Clevo TN70M).
The Lazion review described a removable back panel to replace the 1.8″ ZIF HDD and RAM. Can you tell me if the TN70M you reviewed has the same back panel for hardware upgrade?